The Iron Gate

The small notice stuck in a crack between the iron gate and the old concrete wall warned the water would be shut off if the bill was not paid within a few days. My Grandpa’s garden looked beautiful. An abundance of flowers and assorted edibles. I remember when this garden fed our family and most of the neighborhood. It was hard for Grandpa now to make ends meet on his meager Social Security check. After putting in so many years slaving away at that factory job, he had been laid off without pension.

Brings back angry memories. My father worked a union job for 25 years then was laid off. During this time the company was sold and the union would not pay a pension to any of the workers. Don’t know how they got out of it but my grandfather ended up in a trailer living off of his social security of $1100 a month and an extra $83 from the army for him being wounded in WWII.

So many people are left without much financial security in their older years. I know your father and grandfather were not alone unfortunately. I hope someone helped the Grandpa in my story pay his water bill so he could keep his garden.

A sad tale. You’ve touched on a few deep issues here – nice distinction between the clearly hardworking and generous grandfather (feeding the neighbourhood) and the cold reality facing people once they are no longer productive.
Nicely done.

First off, welcome to Friday Fictioneers. This exercise in brevity comes with a warning label. To quote the Eagles, “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” 😉 Habit forming. This comes directly from the chief addict.

There, that having been said. Your story is poignant, pointed and painfully true to life. Well done. I look forward to reading more from you.

Would you like to give Grandpa a check so he could keep his garden? That would be a nice thing to do. Oh and I think I just realized after checking with my husband. A bank check in America is spelled check. In England it is spelled cheque.(And my spell check has a red squiggly line under cheque.)